Television Review: Of Mice and Lem (The Shield, S5X10, 2006)

Of Mice and Lem (S05E10)

Airdate: 7 March 2006

Written by: Charles H. Eglee & Kurt Sutter
Directed by: Gwyneth Horder-Payton

Running Time: 49 minutes

By 2006, the rules of American serialised television were still in a state of flux. The now-common practice of situating a season’s most explosive narrative climax in the penultimate episode, reserving the finale for introspection or narrative mop-up, was not yet firmly established. The Shield had experimented with this formula before. As Season 5 hurtled towards its conclusion, all signs pointed to Of Mice and Lem being precisely that kind of “wham” instalment, given the incendiary cliff-hanger of Lem’s arrest. Yet, while the episode delivers significant and dramatic developments, it ultimately pulls its most earth-shattering punches, functioning more as a tense and grim prologue. It methodically tightens the noose around Lemankowski, reserving the true, devastating closure for the season finale.

The previous episode, Kavanaugh, concluded with former Strike Team member Lem, caught redistributing confiscated heroin, bailed out and awaiting his fate. IAD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh’s relentless pressure for a deal to bring down Vic, Shane, and Ronnie hangs over him. Lem’s loyalty is strained to breaking point, manifesting in crippling stomach problems—a physical symbol of his moral indigestion. His ultimate, desperate decision forms this episode’s tragic core: he informs Vic that he will become the “sacrificial lamb.” He will accept Kavanaugh’s deal, serve a year or two in prison, and allow his brothers to continue their lives and careers unimpeded. It is a heartbreaking act of misplaced loyalty, born of exhaustion and a futile hope for peace.

On its surface, Lem’s sacrifice appears a clean, if painful, solution. Kavanaugh’s position is weakening; his abrasive tactics have alienated even those within the LAPD hierarchy who despise Vic. Emboldened, Vic feels comfortable enough to get particularly cruel revenge: visiting Kavanaugh’s estranged, mentally fragile wife, Sadie, under the guise of concerned friendship, culminating in a sexual encounter he later flaunts to torment his pursuer. The Barn itself seems to be moving on, with Assistant Chief Phillips promoting a recovered Claudette Wyms to Captain, replacing the incompetent Billings. One of her first acts is to rightfully reclaim her office from Kavanaugh, signalling a return to order and expelling the corrosive influence of his investigation.

However, Vic’s confident plans are catastrophically undone by Kavanaugh’s previous move involving imprisoned gang lord Antwon Mitchell. In a chillingly calm prison visit, Antwon elucidates the brutal reality Lem faces. Lem’s presence in any California prison would be seen as an opportunity for bloody retribution against the Strike Team that imprisoned him. Antwon presents Vic with a devil’s bargain: facilitate a robbery of a police warehouse holding confiscated merchandise, and he will ensure Lem’s safety. Vic, in desperation, agrees. The robbery, however, is a disastrous double-cross. Antwon uses it not only to acquire the goods but to eliminate a potential rival, Kern Little—a failed rapper returned to his One-Niner roots—and, more crucially, to have a guard murdered in a manner designed to get further leverage on Strike Team. When part of the loot subsequently disappears, Antwon seizes the pretext to void the deal entirely, effectively condemning Lem to death. With all exits sealed, Vic is forced to make the agonising decision to tell Lem he cannot, under any circumstances, go to prison. The episode concludes with Vic arranging Lem’s desperate, last-minute escape to Mexico, a temporary salve for a now-terminal wound.

The script by Charles H. Eglee and Kurt Sutter handles this labyrinthine plot with remarkable deftness. Even seemingly sensationalist elements, such as Vic’s seduction of Sadie Kavanaugh, are grounded in the characters’ vindictive pathologies and play out with a grim naturalism. The episode also deftly ties up a lingering procedural subplot concerning a serial attacker placing rat traps in glory holes. After a near-fatal incident, Dutch and Claudette must coax information from a reluctant witness, Alarico Trujillo, whose involvement leads to his wife accusing him of homosexuality and resulting in domestic violence. This thread provides a rare and excellent spotlight for Officer Julien Lowe. He deals with pressure from gay activist Art Gadway (Derek Webster), who accuses him of not doing enough for “their people,” while also using his own complex identity—a gay man with deep Christian faith—to extract a confession from the perpetrator, Jarod Stahl (Derk Chetwood). Julien recognises Stahl as a repressed homosexual channelling his self-loathing into violence against other “abominations.” It is a powerful, nuanced scene that adds significant depth to Julien’s often-underused character.

The episode also smartly utilises continuity, briefly resurrecting Kern Little from Season 1 only to have him brutally and unceremoniously dispatched. This is not fan service but a stark reminder of the show’s ruthless, pragmatic world where past connections offer no protection, only targets.

Where the episode stumbles is in its direction. Gwyneth Horder-Payton, a veteran assistant director on the series, delivers competent but unexceptional work in her directorial outing. The crucial warehouse robbery sequence feels slightly confused in its geography and editing, diluting the tension of the double-cross. Furthermore, the musical montage near the end, scored to “Disarm” by Smashing Pumplkins, aims for poignant gravity but lands closer to televisual cliché, an uncharacteristically sentimental beat in an otherwise ruthlessly unsentimental narrative.

Finally, the episode’s coda—Officer Danny Pilar going into labour and being rushed to hospital by Julien—feels like a jarring, soap-opera convenience. While it serves to tie off Danny’s pregnancy arc, its placement amid the high-stakes, life-and-death manoeuvring surrounding Lem creates a tonally discordant note, a forced attempt at juxtaposing “life” against the encroaching “death” that governs the Strike Team’s world. It is a rare moment where the machinery of serialised plotting becomes visible, slightly undermining the otherwise airtight tension of the main narrative.

Of Mice and Lem is a superbly written, intricately plotted instalment that expertly tightens the screws on its central characters. It excels in its nuanced handling of complex moral dilemmas and its willingness to let grim inevitability replace explosive action. If it falls short of being a classic penultimate episode “wham,” it is because it understands that the true explosion is yet to come, choosing instead to meticulously assemble the powder keg that the finale will ignite.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

==

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Leodex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9